I play a lot of Madden every year, gang. Like, a lot a lot. I’m in a 32-man league, and then I have my own Franchise mode going, and none of that includes all the work that goes into writing a review for IGN, which is… substantial. But no matter how much I play, I’ll always discover something new after that review is done – be it an obnoxious bug or just a better understanding of a system under the hood. I feel like I understand a lot more about Madden NFL 25 now that I am about to put down the controller for the final time, but after spending a little time with Madden NFL 26, well… all that stuff’s out the window. Madden 26 changes a lot of what came before, and while I still have more to play before my final review, I’m liking what I see so far. I’m liking it a lot, in fact.
Let’s start with one of the biggest changes: the Skills Trainer. Madden’s old Skills Trainer was a good way to learn the basics, but it’s been completely overhauled this year, and I’ve gotta say, I’m impressed. There are substantially more drills and the tutorials explaining them are much, much more detailed, to the point where I’m already learning stuff I didn’t know. For instance, if you’re kicking a field goal or an extra point, you shouldn’t hit the red zone of the kick power part of the meter, as that’s what is called an overkick, which reduces your distance. I thought it just meant “Hey, here’s the edge of the meter.” Nope! I asked one of my friends who also regularly plays if he knew that; he didn’t. But we both do now. Madden has always been uncomfortable with explaining itself, largely opting to leave the detailed stuff to YouTubers. Now, a lot more of that detail is in the game. The Skills Trainer will even mark drills as “Beginner,” or “New to Madden,” so you can find the stuff you need more easily. It’s a huge improvement and something I’ve personally been asking for for years, so I’m ecstatic with this addition.
Aside from that, I’ve also been playing around in Franchise, which is to say I’ve mostly been playing with Coach Creation and menus. Madden may try to convince you that it is parkour, reader, but this is a lie. It’s menus all the way down. Coach Creation is totally revamped now, with a ton of new heads that (mostly) look better than last year’s options and several that look like they were made out of Play-Doh or the “Weird and Ugly” section of the Dark Souls character creator. But hey, I appreciate the effort.
Once you’ve made your custom coach, you’ve got the choice of one of three archetypes built around player development, offense, and defense. The skill trees of old? Gone. Now you spend Skill Points to unlock and upgrade abilities that you equip on gameday for bonuses. Some, generally player abilities, last a few weeks; others, like the ones that allow you to hire better scouts, last all season. It’s different and I haven’t had enough time to see where it all goes yet, but I’m intrigued as it seems more interesting than “this position gets +2 Speed, the Most Important Stat in the Game,” which was how a lot of the skill tree looked last time.
On the field, things are faster, finding a balance between the zippy arcade feel of College Football and the Maddens of yesteryear. The Wear and Tear injury system also makes its Madden debut, though I’m concerned about it in this context; I acknowledge it’s more realistic, but I don’t necessarily like it in College Football, and I particularly don’t like the way the on-field UI has changed to accommodate it. But we’ll see.
With Wear and Tear, though, comes some very welcome changes to player development. You can now choose practice intensity for each player, not just for starters and backups at each position, which is a godsend. I’m decent at Madden on the field, but what makes me good in a Franchise league is that I’m great at drafting and player development. For someone like me, this extra control is a huge deal. There’s also some nice QoL changes here, like being able to see player fatigue as a number and not just a meter on the health section of their player card. Like, yes! Finally! I don’t know if this is stuff most players will notice, but if you’re a sicko like me, it really does make a big difference.
It’s not all sunshine and roses in Menuland, though. Player cards now take more than five seconds to load, which is both substantially worse than in Madden 25 and absolutely infuriating when you really want to dig into your team’s stats. We’re pre-release, and to its credit, EA did fix menu and loading issues in previous Maddens – but man, five seconds to do something as simple as open a player card, which was snappy in Madden 25, when there are 53 players on a team? Please shoot me.
Speaking of changes EA has made to anger me personally, Madden has once again reworked the name of its QB throwing motions, and introduced several new ones. This is, by my count, the second time that this has happened in the last two years, and it’s maddening (get it?) each time. Throwing motion is hugely important to how QBs play, and now I have to figure out what my favorite throwing motions are, and what draft notes correspond to those motions, all over again. I’m glad that the new names make a little more sense, but I am begging EA to leave these alone for a hot second. Please.
Overall, though, I’m pretty impressed by the changes to this year’s game so far. I have a lot to do before I can render a verdict – I need to play Superstar, dig deeper into Franchise, get more of a feel for the on-field action, and (sigh) spend some time with Ultimate Team. But I’m really liking what I’ve seen of Madden 26 so far. Now I just need to put more time into it and see if that feeling holds up.
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